A Sample Family Ministries Survey (1)

A Sample Family Ministries Survey (1)

The Family Ministries Team (or Council or Committee) wants to build its programs for families in accordance with the needs and interests of our families and our community. Please take a few minutes to respond to the following items. Your response is important to us. Return this to a member of our committee or leave it in the church office. Thank you!

1. Tell us about your family and household:

____ Single, living alone

____ Single with children at home

____ Couple, no children

____ Two parents with children at home

____ Two parents with adult children at home

____ Stepfamily, with children at home

____ Grandparent raising grandchildren

____ Other (specify) ______

2. Tell us about your interests and concerns:

Which of the following would you be interested in attending if your church offered workshops, seminars, or small groups in those areas:

Faith sharing

____ Faith growth in marriage

____ Family worship

____ Sharing my faith as a parent of preschoolers

____ Sharing my faith as a parent of school-age children

____ Sharing my faith as a parent of teenagers

____ Sharing my faith with my adult children

____ Fostering family communication skills

____ Caring for aging parents

____ Skills for parenting children ____ for parenting youth

____ Stepparent issues and skills

Marriage

____ Surviving the first year of marriage

____ Surviving the first year of parenthood

____ Engaged couples—enrichment and training

____ Growing together as a couple (marriage enrichment)

____ Married again

____ Married but separated by distance (armed forces, school, prison, etc.)

Issues

____ Divorce recovery for children ____ for youth _____ for adults

____ Family survival after the loss of a family member

____ Sexuality—talking with my children

____ Sexuality—issues for adults

____ Prejudice reduction workshops

____ Twelve-step program

____ Drug or alcohol abuse

____ AIDS awareness

____ Grief

____ Respite from care for a loved one

Parenting

____ Outreach projects for families

____ Love, marriage, and the family—what the Bible really says

____ Family support—what our community offers

____ Parenting for peace and justice

____ Celebrating holidays and holy days in the home

____ Talking with my parents _____ for children ____ for youth

____ Parenting a child with special needs

3. Tell us what will best work for you in meeting these needs:

____ Ongoing small group for couples, other than Sunday school time

____ Ongoing small group for singles, other than Sunday school time

____ Short-term studies on Wednesday night

____ Short-term studies on an evening other than Wednesday

____ Short-term studies during the day

____ Marriage enrichment retreats

____ Engaged couples retreats

____ Family retreats

____ Topics covered as part of ongoing Sunday school class

4. Tell us about your gifts and interests:

A. Tell us where you have skills in leading any of the topics identified:

______

B. Are you interested in leading a group on this topic?

______

5. Tell us other interests and concerns you have not mentioned above that you would like to see the church offer to families:

______

A Sample Family Ministries Survey (2)

1. Describe your family for us:

______

2. Do you need resources for home devotions and worship?

____Yes____ No

Would you prefer these resources as ___ books ____church newsletter
articles ____ Web articles? (Check all that apply.)

3. What kinds of congregational activities would be important to you and your family? List your suggestions here:

______

4. Tell us what topics or areas you would like to see our congregation provide information on regarding what’s available in our community (for example, Divorce recovery, financial planning, parenting).

______

5. How family friendly would you say our congregation is (very, so-so, poor, failing)?

______

6. What could we do to improve?

Sample Evaluation of Family Ministries

Name of program ______Date ______

1. The best thing about this program was ______

2. One way we would improve this program is ______

3. We found out about this program through

_____ bulletin _____ newspaper _____ church newsletter _____ friend

4. We decided to participate because ______

5. We would also participate in the following programs or events if provided by the church ______

Following each offering of your team, plan for an evaluation time in your next meeting. Invite the pastor or other church leaders to participate. Use the following questions to guide your discussion.

1. Our goal for this program was to

2. The results we expected were

3. The results we achieved were

4. Ways we would improve are

5. What we need to do next is

Planning Retreat

(This is a planning retreat for the Family Ministries team and other leaders to develop a vision, goals, and action plan for family ministries.)

1. Preparation

The team sets a date, place, and schedule three months in advance.
If the team has had discussions leading toward the expression of a vision, use those discussions to decide on a theme for the retreat.
Find a person to lead the retreat. This could be someone on the team or someone from outside the team. If someone on the team will serve as the leader of this retreat, plan ways to help that person also participate in the retreat.
Arrange for location, meals, letters to participants, etc.

2. Planning Retreat Schedule

Opening Prayer
Welcome and announcements
Introductions: Say your name and tell us why are you here today.
Prayer Partners: pair by two, share a prayer concern and pray for one another.
Break
Explain that the group will now use Reflection Methodology ofSee, Judge, Actlearned from the National Hispanic Plan: See: the current reality. Judge: What does the word of God say about this? Act: To what action is God calling us individually and corporately? Proceed to the See stage.

See: To see the current reality of families in our congregation and in our community. Use the findings from the Family Survey. List the findings and distribute copies during the retreat.

Brainstorm with the group the implications of the findings: What needs are present for families today?

______

Judge: Reflection on Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

If your team is a large one, divide into small groups of two to four each. Ask the groups to read, reflect, and report on the Scripture. Based on the current reality of families and this Scripture, what is your vision for family ministry in your congregation?

______

Ask each small group to report its ideas on newsprint to the total group.

Lunch Break

Develop a group vision

Once you have determined some of the needs of families in your congregation, reflect on what the word of God is saying about these needs. Formulate a vision of what family ministries would look like once you address these needs. A)If your team is small enough (six or less) for interaction, proceed with writing a vision for family ministries in your congregation. (Then proceed to Act.)

The vision of the Family Life Council team for family ministries is:

______

B) If your team is a large one, divide into small groups and ask those groups to write their visions for family ministries in the congregation and community (as above). Then ask the groups to report on newsprint. Have the facilitator or leader bring together the words and statements that are resonant in the reports of the group. The leader then summarizes and writes a vision statement based on all the reports.

Our vision for family ministries is:

______

Give small groups time to respond until consensus is achieved.

Act (follow-up): Develop an action plan that reflects and responds to the need(s) and that is driven by the vision and based on the Scripture reading and reflection.

Mention the follow-up, where the family life council team will take the vision and develop goals and a plan of action for family ministries.